These familiar stereo friends were first
issued during the early 1960s. It is
good to make their acquaintance afresh.
Certainly they belong in any Szell hall
of fame.
Contrary to the image of Szell as forbidding
authoritarian these performances smile
and surge. They are also object lessons
in the tight-leash schooling of an orchestra
revelling in utterly secure technique
even when pushed to ultima thule.
Listen to the virtuosic quicksilver
of the opening of the second and fourth
movements of the Second Symphony; makes
you hanker after a Szell Italian
Symphony. The Szell-Cleveland smile
is Mozartian at times - as at the opening
of the Larghetto of The Spring
and there is a touch of the Jupiter
amid the closing bars of that symphony’s
finale and also in the final Lebhaft
of the Fourth at 5.19. The garrotte
taut rapid shuddering strings at the
start of the final movement of The
Spring are remarkable. Szell avoids
undue haste even in the Sostenuto
assai of the Second Symphony. Here
he is in fact two minutes slower than
Barenboim in his justly acclaimed Teldec
set (2564 61179-2, 2003). This is a
deeply romantic reading. The Lebhaft
of The Rhenish flies along
with Mercury’s winged feet. Not once
does the articulation falter or stutter.
The metronomic regularity of the final
Lebhaft of The Rhenish does
not spell dull and the Cleveland brass
impress at every turn especially in
the tawny autumnal ‘breakers’ at 2.30-2.48.
The Fourth Symphony is of the same high
standard with the muscular convulsions
of strings and brass in the Lebhaft
and Scherzo deeply satisfying
and the stereo separation at its most
artistically effective. The playing
of violins and viola is pin-sharp in
the Langsam and Lebhaft (CD2
tr. 9 3.58). The Manfred Overture
is played as if driven by the Furies;
this is the sort of treatment you imagine
from Nikolai Golovanov. Szell must have
made a feast out of, say, Weber’s Oberon
Overture or Berlioz’s Le Corsair.
Hearing his way with Manfred I
wish Szell had recorded the Overture,
Scherzo and Finale, Hermann and
Dorothea and Julius Caesar.
The transfers have been extremely well
accomplished by Sony. Of course there
is the pervasive low level hiss of analogue
stock tape. With tapes this old the
transparency and openness of sound we
get from Barenboim on Teldec cannot
be matched. However there is no congestion
and everything is clear and registers
well.

There is plenty of
competition and some of it is more sweetly
recorded. I have compared the series
by Kubelik (both Sony and DG-Eloquence)
and Marriner (Capriccio and Brilliant).
Kubelik on Sony offers playing that
is affable, good mannered, modestly
unassuming and well recorded. The performances
are warm and rich, possibly a little
laid-back; as much to do with the South
German temperament as with Kubelik's
perspective on Schumann. His Rhenish
is grandly Brahmsian, stately in the
Sehr mäßig and his
French Horns roll and halloo as if through
a mist of golden wine. Kubelik's early
1960s recordings with the Berlin Phil
have yet greater vitality but the sound
does not have the depth and breadth
of colour found in the Sony or the Teldec.
There is also Marriner with the Academy
of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (Brilliant
Classics but originally Capriccio) although
his lickety-split élan gives
the symphonies a decidedly Mendelssohn-like
flight. If you seek even more fire in
the belly then try Solti (Decca), the
recently deceased Hans Vonk (EMI Red
Line) or Sawallisch (EMI). I have heard
parts of the Solti and Sawallisch sets
in the past but must still go by favourable
reports on the Vonk. Franz Konwitschny
is also highly recommendable on Edel-Berlin
Classics unless you have non-negotiable
objections to mono.

If you want up-to-the-minute
sound quality then I suggest you track
down the Barenboim set which is a leading
contender in a field populated with
strong versions. The Barenboim ‘stamp’
yields readings that are flexible and
instinct with teeming life. Teldec deliver
an audio image that is one of the most
realistic and vigorous I have come across.
Solo ‘voices’ are captured with admirable
definition in the quieter moments while
the Staatskapelle French horns seem
underpinned with Wagner tubas such is
their lustrous golden roar.

The documentation of the Szell is well
up to Sony UK exemplary standards with
full discographical information as well
as an engagingly pugnacious essay by
Szell written in 1960. The two CDs are
in a convenient single width case.
The Szell-Schumann is the sort of discovery
that you will want to share with others.
I think you will be very pleasurably
surprised; all at twofer price as well.

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